The National Debt consists of the total debt accrued by local, state and federal. Public debt is essentially the federal debt, thus compiling the staggering number that already exists. The debt deficit to me is astonishing. Currently, the total public debt in the United States, as of December 16, 2015, is $18,788,138,221,346.49. This includes $13,600,726,418,253.26 debt held by the public and $5,187,411,803,093.23 by intergovernmental holdings (usgovermentdebt, 2015). High GPD is not anything new to the United States. The all-time high was 121.70 percent ($18827323.00) in 1946 and a record low of 31.70 ($253400.00) percent in 1974 (United States Government Debt to GDP, 2015). The way we are spending, and the debt we are accruing, it would …show more content…
The third category, spending and interest, accounts for the littlest of the three categories. In lament terms, Social security, military and healthcare account for the majority of our budget. This is no surprise because Social Security and healthcare are both mandatory spending (services our programs we rely on) and the military is discretionary spending (services or programs we rely on), and as stated above, this accounts for the majority of our spending, thus our debt. We rely on these services on a daily basis, and the baby boomers continue to age, the cost spends on social security and Medicare will continue to grow. The same goes for healthcare. As healthcare continues to be costly, the amount spent on Medicaid and insurance providers will continue to grow as well. After reading and understanding where the money is spent, when I took the Concord Coalition’s Federal Budget Challenge, I had a better realization of how little things can improve the deficit in big ways. After reviewing the site, and taking the challenge, I learned some small things that can have large outcomes. One thing I choses in the revenue category was to reform Medicare and provide seniors a fixed amount of financial support to purchase private health insurance. To me, I agree the idea of cutting healthcare would increase competition among health plans and lower costs of health insurance (Federal Budget challenge, 2015). I personally think that private healthcare, rather than
Overspending is a pertinent problem facing the lawmakers in Congress. In 2012 discretionary spending reached $1.3 trillion and mandatory spending $2 trillion, while only bringing in $2.5 trillion in revenue. Since the turn of the century back in 2000, non-mandatory spending by the government has topped out a whopping $16.1 trillion just in the past 13 years (Boccia, Frasser & Goff 2013). This persistent overspending on programs and services that are not necessary to the functionality of the country is what is causing the deficit to rise year after year. To remedy this issue the government must either increase the revenue it brings in through taxes and trade or reduce the amount of money it spend or perhaps even both. In 2012 thirty-one cents of every dollar that Washington spent was borrowed (Boccia, Frasser & Goff 2013). Most of which went to large programs such as Social Security and Medicare and if these large, growing programs, or just the budget in general, do not undergo financial reform it could spell disaster for the economy and fiscal state of the nation.
The Supreme Court 's favorable ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act allowed for healthcare to be available for many Americans who would otherwise not receive medical benefits. This is because it increases the number of people covered by Medicare/Medicaid, and lowers the cost of insurance through employers. While this idea is good in theory, paying for it is a challenge due to the fact that it will only add to the nation’s already enormous debit of several trillion dollars (Mulvany, 2012). From 2010-2019, the United States is predicted to spend around 400 billion dollars on healthcare. This prediction has prompted lawmakers to reduce spending on Medicare, Medicaid and other welfare programs. The spending cuts will result in less people getting the care they need due to the limited availability of money for care and the increase in the number of beneficiaries receiving
The U.S. national debt is currently $18 trillion dollars and it is rising fast. The national debt today is the highest the U.S. has ever seen. In George Washington’s Farewell Address, he declared the U.S. should avoid going into debt. If the nation end up in a deficit, that the debtors were responsible for paying off the debt so that it doesn’t burden the future generations. Like the rest of this advice in his Farewell Address, the nation ignored it. The ideal goal right now should be to stop the debt from increasing anymore because it is impossible to stop the debt from increasing and expect to pay it off in this generation.
Many Americans today are aware that the United States is in debt, however, some may not realize by how much. Currently, the United States National Debt is up to 18 trillion dollars and is steadily increasing. This is a serious problem for the U.S., especially for millennials, who are going to be the ones living and dealing with the debt left behind for them. Increased spending, borrowing from China, and interest on the money borrowed are setting up our economy for an eventual crash, one that the upcoming generation may not be prepared for. Every dollar that accumulates into the debt will have to be repaid with interest at some point, making it harder to pay back. To gain a better understanding of how the U.S. dug itself into such a deep hole, one should start at the beginning of where the debt started.
In 2009 the debt was amounted to about $12 trillion , or 83.4 percent of the country’s GDP (“Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2011” table 7.1). Since 2003, the debt has been increasing by more than $500 billion annually. The increase in 2009 was $1.9 trillion. According to the Congressional Budgeting Office, this debt will keep increasing at least for the next decade (“The Budget and Economic Outlook : Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020” 21).
The United States deficit contributes to its debt and the debt contributes to the deficit. We know the longest running uninterrupted surplus for the Unites States was from 1920 to 1930 but spent most of it combating the war. This will show how the U.S. deficits, debt, and surplus affect the following areas; the taxpayers, future social security and Medicare users, unemployed individuals, University of Phoenix students, The United States financial reputation on an international level, a domestic automobile manufacturer (exporter), and a Italian clothing company (importer).
The federal budget deficit it is an excess government spending on state revenues. And public debt is an aggregate amount of government debt, which is composed of outstanding loans and unpaid interest thereon. U.S. federal expenditures is approximately around 3.5-4 trillion dollars, which includes: defense – $700b, social security – $700b, Medicare and Medicaid – $450b, Interest – $200b, other assistance such as food stamps, unemployment, housing, EITC - $180b, and other non-defense - $600b.
If there is one thing that is known about the national debt, it is that it goes hand in hand with Millennials. It is a shame to think that our country's debt will be forced onto the younger generation, and we will ultimately be the ones who have to fix the situation or deal with the consequences. To be clear, the term millennial usually refers to someone who is in the 18 to 34 age bracket. Millennials are also the first generation after the baby boomers. We are now facing a time when the national debt is growing faster than the American population, and this affects everyone.
Historically, the US public debt as a share of GDP has increased during wars and recessions, and subsequently declined. The ratio of debt to GDP may decrease as a result of a government surplus or due to growth of GDP and inflation. For example, debt held by the public as a share of GDP peaked just after World War II (113% of GDP in 1945), but then fell over the following 35 years. In recent decades, however, aging demographics and rising healthcare costs have led to concern about the long-term sustainability of the federal government's fiscal
One billion is an extremely large number, one billion seconds ago it was 1984, one billion minutes ago the Roman Empire was at it’s height of power, one billion hours ago it was the stone age, one billion dollars ago in our national debt was thirteen hours and twenty minutes ago. So, the next time you hear a politician talking about one billion as if it’s a small number, think of this. The issues that plague our nation begin with the national debt. It strangles our economy and will be the cause of most of our economic problems in the future. A normal, sane person would not keep spending when they over $19 trillion in debt, so why would the government? If we can figure out how to get of our national debt, we can resolve our economic problems
Debts and Deficits have become a big problem now in the United states and has caused many people to be worried about their futures. As the total number of debt rises in the United States people and economist start to worry more and more. People are worried that their kids and their grandkids won’t be able to grow up in the same luxury as they did. Many economists even believe that the standard of living might decline drastically if a solution isn’t found soon. 1/3 of people in the United States people believe national debt is the biggest problem in the united states. A budget deficit can be described as basically whenever the governments spending increases their tax revenues. In a poll conducted budget deficit is the the number one thing that worries people the most. Since recently we have had some large budget deficits. The current United
As of August 4, 2016, the official debt of the United States government is $19.4 trillion ($19,379,566,441,022).[1] This amounts to:
National Debt is a big concern for citizens of the United States and politicians. The reason many people are concerned about the national debt is because over the course of recent years it has dramatically risen at an alarming rate and doesn’t seem to be slowing down or reducing anytime soon. Many people wonder how the United States got into debt and how to fix it.
The national debt is becoming a growing problem that the United States has never faced before. As of September 2017, the national debt sits right at $20 trillion dollars. It is a number that will take many generations of American taxpayers to pay off—or at least some of it. While it is a frightening number and a threat, it does have some pros to it; but overall harms the growth of the economy, future generations, and can lead to a fiscal crisis.
Is it to be, or not to be? Frankly, if our nation does not strive towards a solution for the National debt then it will not “be”. Some economist determined that the Country’s national debt is not an issue to panic over because the Nation will supposedly continue as it does currently. However, the National Debt that the country has reached is a problem that cannot be ignored or solve its self and vanish, it is a problem that has to be addressed. Eventually the time will run out for the United States to keep pushing the limit on the debt ceiling and then will be left without options.